Daily Devotion: The Word Revealed - Daily Dying to Self and Living to God - Luke 14:25-33, John 12:20-26

The Christian life is often thought of as a series of paradoxes.  A paradox is when a statement appears to be contradictory, but in reality, proves to be true.  Chief among the Christian life paradoxes is dying to self that we might live to the glory of Christ.  Many ask with great doubt in their voice, “So, let me get this straight, we die to live?”  To the one who is not born again of the Spirit of God this simply makes no sense.   When we were spiritually dead in sin it appeared to us that we did many wonderful and good things.  Often, we might find ourselves saying, “I’m a basically good person.”  When God’s Spirit comes to us applying the work of regeneration bringing us from spiritual death to vibrant spiritual life, we come to see that for the first time, in the words of Isaiah, “all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags.”  God so humbles us that even our very, very best is now insufficient and is considered worthless.  We often sing the truth of our condition and the joy of our hearts, “Nothing in my hands I bring; simply to thy cross I cling.”  Dying to self is part and parcel of living to Christ.

The Paradox Develops

But we must not make the mistake of believing that God only works to tear us down and tell us how unworthy we are.  Some wrongly believe that God wants us to hate ourselves.  But others make the opposite mistake of saying that God is for us and therefore He wants us to be totally focused on ourselves, and our needs, and our happiness.  There is a tension in God’s word.  In Matthew 19:19b, God commands us to “love your neighbor as yourself.”

Therefore, we assume it cannot be wrong to love ourselves because that is precisely the manner in which we are to love our neighbors.  In John 10:10b, Jesus tells God’s children that “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”  It appears obvious that Jesus wants you to understand that He gave His precious life so that you might be genuinely happy, and content, and fulfilled.  There are numerous scriptures that communicate the same message.  However, on the other side of the paradox, there are numerous scriptures that seemingly teach a much different perspective.  Luke 14:26 says that to follow Christ and be His disciple you must hate even yourself,  “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.”  It sounds as if hating yourself is the right path to follow as a Christian.  Further along this line, John 12:24-25 states, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”  Hating your life and keeping eternal life appear to go hand in hand.

So, which is it, self-love or self-hate?  Which of those does God want in your love relationship with Him?  How are we to die to self and yet lead abundant, full, productive lives?  The answer lies in the biblical fact that God is the sovereign, saving God of eternity.  In this sovereign capacity, God works to redeem us by not sparing His only begotten Son, but rather He offers up that only Son for our salvation.  God sends His Holy Spirit to bring us to spiritual life and then abide with us forever and ever.  And He works continually to bring us into a glorious conformity to Jesus Christ our Lord and our Savior.  In all of that, God is for us.  He wants us to be His fulfilled, content, joyful, and fruit bearing children.  To accomplish this great task, God lovingly works to rid us of our self-centeredness, our never-ending self-concern, and our sinful selfishness.  In other words, God graciously works to cure us of self.  We will never love God as He calls us to love Him unless we are cured of self.  The cure comes from dying to self and living to Christ.  When we die to self and live to Christ, the paradox becomes plain and the scriptures of the paradox are in harmony.   Our love for God, our joy in loving God, will grow tremendously when we trust Him enough to set self-centeredness, self-concern, and our sinful selfishness aside and live totally for Christ.

Pause & Ponder: Are there areas of your life where you have not trusted Christ to the point of denying yourself and living to Christ all for the glory of God?  In what ways do you not trust Christ enough to deny self in the above areas?